SOAP 2GB MP4 Player @ThinkComputers.org
Microsoft Reclusa Gaming Keyboard @Everything USB
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Thermaltake Max 4 External HDD Enclosure @HardwareLogic
Antec MX-1 3.5" Hard Drive Enclosure @Madshrimps
OCZ DDR2 PC2-9200 Reaper HPC Edition @Overclockers Online
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Pioneer recently announced plans to introduce the BDP-LX70 Blu-ray Disc player to the Japanese market. Offering "studio-master-quality" sound and video, the BDP-LX70 features 1080/24p output and Dolby TrueHD lossless audio technology.

Pioneer Corporation announced today the introduction of the BDP-LX70, a Blu-ray Disc Player, for the Japanese market.

With the start of terrestrial digital broadcasting and the spread of Plasma and other high-definition televisions in recent years, interest in high-definition video images is growing rapidly. In November, 2006, the first Blu-ray Disc titles were released in Japan, and further releases of high-definition content are expected in the future.

In response to the growing demand for high-definition video contents, Pioneer has decided to release its Blu-ray Disc player in Japan, following its first entry to the North American market last year.
The BDP-LX70 will be available in Japan in late June for a suggested retail price of 170,000 yen ($1,400US). Full details can be found here. Add a comment
CyberLink has announced that PowerDVD Ultra now supports NVIDIA's PureVideo HD (VP2) architecture on the GeForce 8500/8600 series of graphics cards. Here's part of their press release:
CyberLink Corp. (5203.TW), a world leader in digital home solutions, announces that PowerDVD Ultra—the only retail software to support Blu-ray Disc, HD DVD, and DVDs—now supports NVIDIA's second generation PureVideo HD (VP2) architecture on NVIDIA's latest GeForce 8500/8600 series graphics cards.

CyberLink PowerDVD Ultra, incorporating superior H.264 decoding technology powered by the new PureVideo hardware engine, is able to provide owners of NVIDIA GeForce 8500/8600 series graphics cards the benefit of dramatically reducing CPU utilization when executing high-definition video decoding and playback.
CyberLink PowerDVD Ultra with support for NVIDIA's Second Generation PureVideo HD (VP2) Architecture is available now for $99.95. More information can be found here. Add a comment
Panasonic has announced that they've integrated the Panasonic SW-5582 into its Bravo SE Blu and Bravo XR-Blu Disc Publishers. By using this drive, the Bravo SE Blu and Bravo XR-Blu can now burn and print to dual-layer, 50GB Blu-ray Disc media.
Primera Technology, Inc., the world’s leading developer and manufacturer of CD, DVD and BD duplication and printing equipment, today announced it has integrated Panasonic SW-5582 Blu-ray Recordable Drives in its Bravo SE Blu and Bravo XR-Blu Disc Publishers.

The Panasonic SW-5582 drives record onto the widest range of optical media, including CD-R, DVD±R (single and dual layer) and BD-R (single and dual layer). Dual-layer BD-R media, which has only recently become commercially available, has a capacity of up to 50GB per disc.
The Bravo SE Blu and Bravo XR-Blu are available now and sell for $2995 and $5295 respectively. If you'd like to read more, Primera's entire press release can be found here. Add a comment
Good news for HD DVD fans. To help celebrate Father's Day, Toshiba is offering two in-store instant rebates that will cut as much as $200 off the price of their HD DVD players. Their HD DVD movie mail-in offer will also continue to run through July 31, giving you five free movies on top of the instant rebates.
- From May 20 through June 9, movie enthusiasts that purchase an HD-A2 HD DVD player will receive a $100 in-store instant rebate.

- From June 10 through June 16, consumers that purchase any Toshiba HD DVD player will receive a $100 in-store instant rebate. For individuals seeking the complete home theater package, an HD DVD player can be purchased with any Toshiba 42" (measured diagonally) or larger HDTV for a $200 in-store instant rebate.
It's unknown whether or not these instant rebates can be used at Amazon. If so, you'll be able to pick up an HD-A2 for less than $220. Full details can be found here. Add a comment
Samsung sent out a press release this morning, announcing a new portable, slot loading DVD burner, the SE-T084L. Along with support for LightScribe, the SE-T084L features 8x DVD±R, 6x DVD+R DL, 4x DVD-R DL and 5x DVD-RAM writing speeds.

Samsung Electronics Ltd., the worldwide digital consumer electronics and information technology leader, announces its new high-end SE-T084L portable front slot loading DVD burner targeted to the business traveler that uses a portable notebook computer. The WriteMaster(TM) SE-T084L is ideal for the traveler on the go who requires a DVD burner, but whose notebook does not include the device...

...The SE-T084L is a slim and compact portable DVD burner featuring easy insert and eject capabilities with its slot loading technology. It offers USB bus power and gives users the ability to read and write to DVDs without the need for an AC adaptor. The SE-T084L features 8X DVD+R recording, 6X DVD+R DL recording, 8X DVD+RW and DVD-R recording. It also features 4X DVD-R DL recording, 6X DVD-RW recording and 5X DVD-RAM recording.
The SE-T084L started shipping back in April for a street price of $150. More information can be found here. Add a comment
With growing pressure form OEM clients like Dell and HP, Taiwan's optical drive manufacturers have started to introduce more SATA equipped drives. According to DigiTimes, the volume of SATA DVD-ROM drives and DVD burners could exceed that of ATAPI models by the second half of this year.
While ATAPI has been popularly used in optical disc drives (ODDs), SATA (serial ATA) stands a good chance of replacing the former as the mainstream interface standard for DVD-ROM drives and DVD burners in the second half of 2007 due to increasing adoption of the latter by global OEM/ODM clients such as Dell and Hewlett-Packard, according to ODD makers in Taiwan.

Many international OEM/ODM clients have requested for use of SATA in place of ATAPI for new DVD-ROM drive and/or DVD burner models sent for product certification over the past four months, the sources pointed out. As a result, the total shipment volume of SATA DVD-ROM drives and DVD burners is likely to exceed that of ATAPI models in the second half of the year, the sources indicated.
While this isn't the first time DigiTimes has made these claims about SATA, ATAPI drives are definitely on the way out. If you'd like to read more, head on over to DigiTimes. Add a comment
At WinHEC 2007, SanDisk announced that their new 1.8-inch UATA solid state drive (SSD) has been certified by the Microsoft Windows Hardware Qualification Lab (WHQL). SanDisk's new SSD also scored very highly on the Windows Experience Index, indicating that Windows Vista will run optimally when installed on the drive.
SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ: SNDK) today announced that the Microsoft Windows Hardware Qualification Lab (WHQL) has certified the new SanDisk 1.8-inch UATA solid state drive (SSD), which is being used as a substitute for hard drives in selected laptop computers. The product also earned a high score on the Windows Experience Index, indicating that it is suited to a variety of Microsoft Windows Vista applications.

The announcement was made at the 2007 Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC 2007) at the Los Angeles Convention Center, where SanDisk is showcasing its comprehensive line of storage products for use in computing systems. On display at the exhibition are the SanDisk SSD products - which also include the 2.5-inch SATA SSD - as well as USB flash drives, the SD card family, uDOC memory modules and other flash-based storage products.
If you'd like to read more, SanDisk's entire press release can be found here. Add a comment
Nero sent out a press release earlier today, announcing that Nero 7 is the first multimedia suite to be certified for both authoring and playback of AVCHD.
Nero, leaders in digital media technology, announced today that Nero 7 is the first multimedia suite to be certified for both authoring and playback of the Advanced Video Codec High Definition (AVCHD) standard. Now users can create and enjoy their AVCHD content with one solution. AVCHD is a new recording format introduced by Sony and Panasonic that uses an MPEG-4 AVC (H.264) video codec to allow for greater compression efficiency as well as higher quality audio and video capturing.

In achieving certification for authoring and playback of AVCHD, Nero 7 has successfully passed the stringent quality standards and guidelines as outlined by Sony and Panasonic to ensure the best user experience for AVCHD. AVCHD playback features ensure that users can enjoy High Definition AVCHD video directly on a PC with Nero ShowTime 3. AVCHD authoring in Nero 7 empowers users to take their own HD content from AVCHD camcorders or other sources, and add menus, create chapters, edit, and encode into AVCHD. Nero 7's certified authoring capability ensures that content can be played on consumer devices such as PlayStation 3 and Blu-ray Disc players.
Support for certified AVCHD authoring and playback will be included in the next update of Nero 7, which, if things go as planned, should be available in the next week or so. If you'd like to read more, Nero's entire press release can be found here. Add a comment
If you've been looking to buy a portable media player, you might want to hold off a bit. According to an article at DigiTimes, the retail price of portable media players is expected to drop by more than half to $99-199. The price drop is due mostly to the decreased costs of LCD panels and the availability of on-chip MP4 compression.
Retail prices of PMPs (portable multimedia players) are expected to drop from US$299-399 to US$99-199, due to significantly decreased costs of LCD panels and other key components as well as the availability of on-chip MP4 compression, according to Taiwan-based makers of MP3 players.

Sales of PMPs have been short of expectations mainly because of high retail prices and the poor quality of video playback, the sources indicated. With adoption of on-chip MP4 compression, PMPs can play video at 20-24 frames per second making the resolution comparable with that of DVD video, according to the Taiwan-based MP3/PMP maker Ergotech.
If you'd like to read more, head on over to DigiTimes. Add a comment